‘Ratbag’ Kintyre now ready to make the Epsom cut

The ultimate dream with a horse such as Kintyre was to have a legacy that lasted for generations, but it was cut short quickly so he could try to win a race like the Epsom Handicap at Randwick on Saturday.

The half-brother to Golden Slipper winner Fireburn showed enough talent to get to the official two-year-old barrier trials a couple of years back, but his attitude ensured he wouldn’t follow his sister’s path to juvenile glory.

Kintyre drives through along the fence to win the Frank Packer Plate in April.Credit: Getty

“He was an absolute ratbag as a colt,” owner-breeder Louis Mihalyka recalled. “We knew he could gallop but not as a colt. It was an easy decision to geld him as a son of Hallowed Crown because he was getting in his own way of being a racehorse.”

Mihalyka might not have a stallion in Kintyre, but he will increase the value of his mum Mull Over, a $22,000 purchase, if he can become her second group 1 winner in the Epsom.

Trainer Gary Portelli.Credit: Getty

Kintyre trainer Gary Portelli remembers the frustration during his two-year-old season but has seen enough of a change to suggest he can win Randwick’s spring mile.

“He wouldn’t go into the gates at the official barrier trials, so he missed the Breeders’ Plate and it was a battle with him from there,” Portelli said.

“Jason Collett came back one day at Canterbury [when Kintyre was a two-year-old] and said just geld him, and it’s unlike Collett to say something like that.

“I gave him one more chance and he won at Newcastle and I think he knew what was about to happen. But by the end of his two-year-old season we just had to make him a racehorse.”

As a gelding, Kintyre has been competitive, winning three of his 17 starts with another seven placings, including wins in the Frank Packer Plate and Queensland Guineas.

“When he came back he was one of the quietest horses in the world and we have seen what he can do,” Portelli said. “He is the poster boy for gelding.

“He has built a great CV, and he has been placed behind some of the best three-year-olds along the way.

“He continues to get stronger and with 50 kilograms in the Epsom he is a great chance.”

Kintyre has had two runs to prepare for the Epsom, in the Tramway Stakes and Bill Ritchie Handicap, where he was a couple of lengths from the winner and right on the placegetters’ heels.

But Mihalyka points to his weight drop as key to his chances.

“He had 57 in the Tramway and 54 in the Bill Ritchie and gets down to 50 after running two good races from bad gates,” he said. “I always look for that weight drop in these handicaps and he has a good gate [in seven], which is another bonus.”

Portelli plans to instruct jockey Ceejay Graham, who won the Queensland Guineas on Kintyre, to be positive from the barriers and take up a handy position and then count on his fighting qualities.

“He is going to be in the first four or five from the good gate because I think most big Randwick miles are won from there,” Portelli said.

“He is very tough and will be there all the way. He is the type of horse you want to take to battle because if he sees one coming at him, he just sticks his neck out now.

“He is a different horse these days and with light weight they will have to beat him.”

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